One of the league’s top defensive players during his career, Duncan made the NBA All‐Defensive First Team eight times.
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“Congratulations all around to #USVI native Tim Duncan for 19 thrilling seasons of excellence on and off the court”, the agency tweeted last night hours after the Spurs on announced the retirement of the St. Croix-born Duncan on Monday, July 11, 2016.
In 1997, after an injury to star David Robinson, the Spurs plunged in the standings and ended up with a chance at the No. 1 overall pick.
“Timmy D you know how I feel about you, what you did for me and for the entire National Basketball Association”. You just accept the careers that you’ve had. What a HUGE honor to have played with him for 14 seasons!
Kobe Bryant – who like Duncan won five league titles over a two-decade career with the same team, the Los Angeles Lakers, before retiring – tweeted: “Congrats TD #19yrs #GoSpursGo”. The Spurs have since accumulated 71 percent winning chance, the best among all major sporting leagues in United States of America in a span of 19 years.
“Tim Duncan is one of the most dominant players in NBA history”, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement.
Shaquille O’Neal told ESPN: “Greatest power forward of all time”.
“The best (power forward) ever!” No loss of a championship could break him.
The Spurs had the NBA’s second-best record in the 2015-16 season but lost in the Western Conference semi-final, after which Duncan said he was contemplating his playing future.
Duncan and Spurs coach Gregg Popovich also formed a dynamic duo, accounting for the most wins ever by a player-coach duo at 1,001. He is one of only three players with at least 1,000 career wins.
Last season, Duncan was hobbled by a sore right knee and played in only 61 games, averaging 8.6 points and 7.3 rebounds.
Popovich will discuss Duncan’s decision to retire at a news conference Tuesday.
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Along with teammates Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, Duncan is part of the National Basketball Association record for most wins by a trio in both the regular season (575) and postseason (126). “Everybody does it differently”.
